I saw this when I went to get him and initially thought that perhaps he had gotten these from fighting. I didn't look at them much because it was getting dark and I needed to get him gutted, back to camp and then to the processors. But when I look at this pic of him right before I shot him I notice that the spots on his back line up like he perhaps was shot in the back. I initially rejected this because I figured a shot that close to his spine would have paralyzed him and thereby killing him but the more I look at it I think he might have been shot and survived. What to you all think?

Whoever skins the deer will know for certain. Looks like an arrow wound if it has a matching wound on the other side.That would be an easy wound to heal if it's an arrow. An inch or so lower he would have been dropped in his tracks.

Yup, I see that all of the time. I watched a doe swat another doe once and hair went flying. It was like she was hit with a flying razor, it left a similar mark. I have seen bucks after fighting their way through the rut with marks like that all over them. Or maybe they are just really good at dodging bullets.

_________________________"Man is still a hunter, still a simple searcher after meat..." Robert C. Ruark